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TRANSPORT AND TOURISM minister Leo Varadkar has confirmed that the lower 9 per cent VAT rate, introduced four months ago to try and stimulate tourism, will be left unchanged in the forthcoming Budget.
The reduced rate – which applies to tourist-friendly industries such as hospitality – was introduced in controversial circumstances earlier this year, and is being paid for the levy on private pensions.
Although the highest rate of VAT is to be raised from 21 per cent to 23 – after details of the proposal were included in documents circulated to German MPs last week – Varadkar said the lower rate would not be similarly raised.
Speaking in Dublin after this morning’s Cabinet meeting, Varadkar assured attendees at a Good Food Ireland event that the lower 9 per cent rate would continue to apply throughout 2012.
“This rate is significant because it principally benefits home-grown employers which are based in Ireland,” he said. ”The vast majority of hotels, restaurants and leisure businesses are Irish-owned and any profits stay in Ireland.
“Many operators moved quickly to pass the VAT cut on to their customers following its introduction. Even where the rate was not passed on, it still benefited the tourism industry by helping businesses to expand their operations or take on additional staff.”
This morning’s meeting was expected to make decisions on the €1.45bn of spending cuts required in the Budget, which will be delivered in two weeks’ time.
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Why not have the last stop at James’s hospital, that way you could combine the most expensive hospital in the world with an equally expensive Metrolink.
@Patrick Presley: The children’s hospital would have cost one fifth of its estimated present cost had the objectors and swap and change obstructers being stood up to. Send them the two billion bill. Don’t let them thrash this project also.
@thomas molloy: You mean those who had the gall to pint out it was in the wrong place (at the Mater)?
And then who pointed out it was at the wrong place (James’)?
Those people are not the problem.
The decision making levels of the civil and public services are the problem.
And we will continue to stagger from scandal to scandal, from unadulterated incompetence to incompetence until there is a clear out of those levels of both.
@thomas molloy: You mean James Reilly and the medical representative bodies!
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: That was a political decision which was heavily lobbied for by professional bodies.
The advantage the Mater had was it had the Rotunda and Temple street beside it and they could be used as part of the bigger campus.
The consultants etc did not see the profit in that for them, so it was moved to the worst place possible for access!
@thomas molloy: incorrect. These guys do not know what they are doing. There is not another contracting authority in the world would do what they did. I knew in 2008 that contractors had major concerns about the procurement strategy and the incompetents just ploughed ahead. Bam is not at fault here, they must be laughing theirs heads off.
@Gary Kearney: The Mater was, and is, a worse place for access.
This is supposed to be a *national* children’s hospital.
Not a *Dublin* children’s hospital.
Neither the Mater not James’ are suitable locations.
Somewhere in the environs of the M50 would be much more suitable.
Somewhere closer to Naas, Newbridge, Kildare or Portlaoise would be much more suitable from the perspective of the entire country.
Somewhere closer to Tallaght or Blanchardstown, if those in Dublin feel the need to have better access than the rest of the country.
Somewhere with lots of land.
And better transportation networks.
James and the Mater were both wrong.
They were wrong then.
They are wrong now.
And they’ll still be wrong in 100 years time.
No harm it won’t be seen in our lifetime anyway
@Thomas Meaney: in your life you mean Thomas, it will be seen in mine though. So just start the construction.
@Thomas Meaney: Stop for a minute and consider that London had an underground in the 1800′s. We were still going round with the horse and cart and they had an underground rail system. Say what ya like, but it really is/was a Great Britain
@DJ Points: not to mention the great iron structures in the rooves of train stations like Paddington, Victoria, Waterloo etc…..and here in Cork we have Kent whose corrugated iron room blew away in a storm there a few years ago
@DJ Points: as the song goesʼas they plundered many landsʼ
There is no return in this. Fix what we have, expand it.
Main line rail into the airport, expand DART.
@John Moylan: where would a rail line from the city centre to the airport actually fit above ground?
@John Moylan: No return? Swords is one of Dublin’s biggest suburbs. It’ll take loads of car journeys off the road daily from Swords to the airport and from Swords to the city as well! Many more from other locations on the line….. Have you done a business case on it?
@John Moylan: Have you done the numbers. There are massive returns in this!.
Fix what we have, how exactly, we have two rail lines across the Liffey. Metro means that thousands can cross the city easier, people from many areas can travel with ease to the city.
@Paul C: It won’t. Simple as that. Before the Celtic Tiger it could have but the chance is well gone.
Metrolink is the only way to go!
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: unless they build massive park and ride facilities. Anyone living in millers glen in swords will have between 30/40 minute walk to the metro.
@Paul C: I’d like to see a high speed monorail from Dublin Airport to the city centre. One stop at either end, that’s all, and run on electricity. It could be high above the paths and roads and weave around buildings. That’d be fab :)
This demonstrates the core issue in this country, truncating the design costs more ? So remove labour, materials, timr and engineer costs and it costs several hundred million more? Absolute nonsense, and that’s from a supposed professor. So called experts are core to the problem, a bit of commercial savvy woulnt go amiss. Give Michael O Leary the job to design and build it.
@Mike 100: michael o’leary has experience with running the biggest engineering and infrastructure project in the history of a state?
the plans are solid, idiots like this TD need to be quiet.
@eoin fitzpatrick: why is EVERYONE that holds a different view to you an idiot Eoin? You used the same word yesterday
@eoin fitzpatrick: Michael o Leary has commercial savvy and doesn’t waste money or time, he is master of efficiency. Those traits don’t reside in TII, but it’s what is required
@Mike 100: It changes the entire design which means the millions spent are wasted.
@Mike 100: Following the law is not a waste of time. Building a Metro is a very complicated project, which your hero would not have a clue about. You cannot scream and shout and replace people in a project like this. It is a massive undertaking, one that silly stunts will not work on!
@Gary Kearney: no, not the entire design, removing lady piece of track and redesigning stephens hreen as a terminus. To say it changes the entire design is absolute nonsense.
Just get on with it..it’s been delayed long enough..just because some don’t want a terminal on their doorstep.its badly required for the city
Am I the only one seeing the perfectly obvious reason of a termination of the route at Charlemont? There’s lot of hotels and top businesses in that area, and the obvious close location to Lansdowne road for the sports visitors….having a direct rail-link from Dublin airport to this area makes complete sense.
Eamon will sort thatout
When he wakesupzzzz
Will be years before it will start. Run over budget and over time.
Build the feckin thing. Seems this lad knows what he’s talking about.
@Oliver Cleary: do you really think so? Maybe he wants to scare stakeholders that any change would be bad and steer them into accepting current design regardless of the shortcomings raised.
People just do to seem to understand. To get to this point has involved years of groundwork not counting the project previously getting to planning approved then cancelled which was crazy. Coming along at this stage and suggesting what about sending it here or there is just pointless as it would years more again and hundreds of millions extra. The biggest disgrace was allowing residents group in ranelagh dictate the halting of a section of the project. Just get on with it and get it up and running.
@John Moore: It will be cancelled again, there’s another issue costing billions that isn’t going to dissappear any time soon.
Just start the building the thing already….
Just build it..build it… just BUILD THE F’N THING!!!!!!!
A politician is kite flying and the Senator joins in. What does that mean, simple, it is election time.
These two people are not far behind the minister for lettuce and his friends for saying whatever it takes to get a headline!
It will make a massive difference to the city and so sorry that the nice people of “South Dublin City are upset. You can be sure as can be that if the issue was on the “Northside” it would be ignored!
Here we go…..
Sure what’s a few hundred million for this when we have a children’s hospital that cost more than the Burj Khalifa to construct.
The regular pre election FFG propaganda metro is not going to happen
Ain’t gonna happen.
We truly fecked up this country it could of been truly an emerald isle , we where so behind other countries we could of learned from them but no we just re created to cause the same problems they had. Even the 2008 crash was another missed and wasted golden opportunity to create something wonderful.
What about Waterford Airport….
25minutes from swords ,and 1 every 90 seconds talk about disimformation
This is yet another example of what the British calls “The Irish Way”. We can’t get out of our own way when developing, planning, and building. All of our projects are long-winded in the planning process, with exorbitant cost over runs and, of course, never built on time.
Remember the original metro link line proposed? It didn’t go through the city centre following already existing links ie: Dart, Luas. It skirted around the suburbs connecting them to each other, to the airport and to the city centre. It linked with Luas stops in towns outside the city centre to bring people in by Lua, unless you went all the way. I thought that was a great idea back in the day. Might not have been the best plan. But surely digging up the corre centre again after the Luas mess, isn’t exactly a great idea either. It’s better to serve places that are less served, not already served. And of course the bloody airport directly to the city centre!!
Jim says Keep northsiders on da northside
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